In 2003 Congress passed the Can-Spam Act. This law is designed to help cut down on the volume of spam email through the US. Even if you're not based in the States, complying with the Can-Spam act will significantly improve your deliverability.
Can-Spam basically includes six major provisions. They are:
1.The email message must not have misleading header information.
2.The message must not have a misleading subject line.
3.The message must come from a functioning return email address.
4.Senders must remove all unsubscribe requests within 10 business days.
5.Commercial email must display the physical postal address of the sender.
6.Any unsolicited emails must clearly identify that it's an advertising message. The recipient must have the opportunity to decline further emails.
It's very important that every email you send contains an unsubscribe link. If someone requests to unsubscribe, the law states that you have ten business days to remove him. Some email programs like iContact (www.icontact.com) will process these opt-out requests for you. This ensures that you always comply with the Can-Spam regulations.
Next time, I'll talk about ISP blacklists and how to avoid them.
